The German offshore wind sector fully completed 546 turbines totalling 2,282.4MW in 2015, raising the operational offshore wind fleet to 792 turbines and a total 3,294.9MW in capacity, reported Deutsche WindGuard for several wind energy organisations.

Thanks to the new capacity commissioned in the course of 2015, offshore wind electricity generation soared to 8.1TWh in 2015 from 1.4TWh in 2014, according to statistics organisation AG Energiebilanzen.

The newly operational capacity was divided between eight wind sites in the North Sea: Amrumbank West 1, Borkum Riffgrund 1, Butendiek, DanTysk, Global Tech 1, Meerwind Sud/Ost, and Nordsee Ost and Trianel Windpark Borkum phase 1 as well as Baltic 2 in the Baltic Sea.

The newly commissioned capacity in the North Sea in 2015 fell just short of 2GW, at 1,994.4MW generated by 466 turbines. Just 80 turbines with a total 288MW went online in the Baltic Sea, at Baltic 2.

By end-2015, construction was ongoing at Gode Wind 1, Gode Wind 2, Nordsee One and Sandbank. A total of 41 offshore wind turbines with a capacity of 246MW had been installed but not yet connected to the grid, while foundations for another 122 turbines had been put in place.

Final investment decisions had been taken for Nordergrunde, Veja Mate and Wikinger as well as for a research project Gicon SOF, to have one wind turbine, with construction expected to begin in 2016 and 2017, Deutsche WindGuard reported.

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